Interrupted by Fireworks
by Gabriela Romero
Summary: Mimi and Tai went from best friends to enemies, but a day at the beach might change all of that. "They remained motionless for a while, mesmerized by the lights, until Tai drew up the courage and whispered into Mimi's ear, "Yes, I still like you."" AU oneshot.


Author's Note: The title for this story was inspired by the FF7 OST song. Again, Michi, cause I love them so much. Please review! And if you like this story check out my other Michi stories!

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**Interrupted by Fireworks**

He had woken up late that morning. This he realized when he rolled over in his bed, lazily gazing at his inactive alarm clock. It was well past eleven, but he didn't mind, since not only was it Saturday, it was also his summer vacation. Tai Kamiya sat up on his bed as he rubbed the sleep gunk off his eyes, and yawned while he remembered what he was supposed to do today. Nothing came to his mind. The boy rolled over and picked up a lime-green Game Boy Color from the night stand, and began playing with it and continued to waste his time, not even bothering to change clothes or brush his teeth. Personal hygiene had little priority in his thirteen-year-old mind.

Then suddenly he remembered; it was Saturday! _The_ Saturday! He had a soccer match to attend today!

The brown haired boy turned the video game off, quickly got ready, and stepped out of his room, rushing to the kitchen to get a piece of toast. He was spotted by his mom—who was busy stuffing soda cans into an enormous cooler—as he neared the fridge. "Tai! You're finally up. Seriously, boy, how many times do I have to tell you not to go to sleep so late at night?" She exclaimed, her eyes on the drinks.

"Sorry mom," Tai replied absentmindedly while he chewed on a piece of cold bread.

"We're going to the beach today with the Tachikawas, by the way." The woman announced, now preparing tuna sandwiches.

Tai swallowed awkwardly and somehow his bread ended up in the wrong place, for he was now choking. He coughed desperately a couple time. "What? I thought they were still in The Bahamas," He said in sheer disbelief once he was able to calm down. He wasn't about to miss his soccer match today! Especially not if the reason he was missing it was because of sweet, darling, cutesy, annoying Mimi Tachikawa and her parents.

"No, they came back a couple days ago honey—"

"Well why would they want to go to the beach again? Weren't there enough beaches in The Bahamas for them?" Tai asked bitterly.

"Mind your tone, young man!" His mom warned him, but she was so busy with what she was doing that she never bother to spare him a glance.

Tai raised his hands defensively and continued, "I'm just saying! Why are we going to the beach anyways? I have a soccer match today, mom!"

"It's June 21st, so the summer festival's just starting; there's going to be fireworks tonight at the beach!" She replied, but quickly caught on to what he had said and exclaimed testily, "You have a soccer match? How's that possible? School's been out for almost a month, Tai."

The boy rolled his eyes at his nosy mom, "The kids from the floor below organized a soccer team, so today it's gonna be the kids from our apartment complex against the Kuya apartment complex kids, from across the street."

She laughed and told him, "Now that's silly, Tai. Go change to your swimming shorts; we're going to the beach." Then, as she saw him about to protest, she said, "You're not staying home alone and that's my final word on the matter."

Once he was sure she couldn't see him, Tai glared and stuck his tongue out at his mom as he exited the kitchen. Perfect, this was just perfect! He was going to spend the whole day at the stupid beach with Mimi and her parents. He was also going to have to miss the first match of their soccer team! How in the world was he ever going to become a renowned soccer player if he kept bailing on his team?

Who cares about summer festivals and the stupid fireworks, anyways? What bothered him the most wasn't the fact that he was going to miss his game, but the fact that he had to fraternize with Mimi. Tai quickly changed clothes yet again and waited in the living room for his parents to be ready to leave. He had to help his dad carry several bags, the cooler, the beach chairs and umbrella, and the grill down to their car.

Soon Tai and Kari realized that their sedan was too small to carry the family of four along with all the items they had packed. "It's too crowded in here, I can't fit," exclaimed Tai as he stepped in to the back seat, almost crushing his little sister.

"_Ouch_! Mom! Tai's hurting my leg!" Kari whined in her attempt to temporarily get rid of her older brother.

"Just hold on for now guys, once we reach the Tachikawas you guys can ride in their car," Tai's dad mutter as their car sped out of the apartment complex parking lot.

"What—great," was Tai's indignant reply.

**~~~ooooo~~~**

Thankfully for Tai and little Kari, they reached the Tachikawas' apartment complex in no time. The family of three was also ready and packed, waiting outside in the parking lot for the Kamiyas to arrive, so that the children could change cars. Kari and Tai hastily left their parents' car in relief and approached their family friends. Mr. Tachikawa was standing next to his sedan, which was considerably less stuffed than their car, with Mimi to his side. The girl gave Kari a warm hug, but met Tai with a huff. Tai ignored her and followed Kari inside the car. He had been too distracted however, and it was too late when he noticed that Kari had scooted over to the window on the other side, and Mimi followed after him, so he was trapped in the middle.

Just as the car sped into the street, something jumped from the front seat to Tai's lap and was now giving him a tacky set of wet kisses. Tai pushed the source of his disturbance away and blurted, "What in the world—"

Kari took in her arms what seemed to be a dog and was exclaiming, "It's so cute! Mimi you have a doggy!"

Next to him Mimi giggled, "Yeah! Mommy got it for me when school ended!"

Tai had to admit he was mildly annoyed by the girls around him giggling all over for the pearly white poodle dog, but his spirit sunk as he thought of the ride to the beach, him being stuck in the middle.

"Her name is Fifi. Isn't she adorable?" Mimi looked over Tai at Kari, who was still letting Fifi lick her all over.

"Fifi? Why would you name it that?" Tai asked in a mocking manner.

Mimi gave him one of her spoiled pouts and replied, "Because it rhymes with my name! Mimi—Fifi!"

"That's the most stupid reason ever! _Because it rhymes with your name_, haha!" The thirteen year old laughed.

Mimi's face went red all over at his words and she turned her head to the scenery out the window, now intent on ignoring him. Their ride to the beach was long, and it didn't help that every once in a while Mimi would turn around to face him and complain about how his leg was touching her or how his shoulder was awkwardly leaning on her or something ridiculous like that. The children would argue, say something a little too bitter to digest, then turn away from each other and continue on playing the ignoring game.

Tai remembered a time when it wasn't like this. The Kamiyas and the Tachikawas were family friends for as long as he could remember, and Tai and Mimi used to actually like hanging around each other. They used to always sit together on theme park rides, and every October they would trick o' treat together, and they would even hang out at each other houses every day after school so that they could watch their favorite action anime together.

Everything changed when he started the eighth grade though. Mimi suddenly became a self-proclaimed princess, and had told him that her social standing at their school greatly mattered to her. She even demanded that he give her a real kiss, so that she could boast to the other girls in her class that she had already been kissed by a boy. To him, it sounded like she was the victim of peer pressure, but he was too angry at the way she began talking to him with disdain to try to change her mind. If Mimi wanted to be Miss Popular then that was her problem, and he wasn't going to forgive her if her snobby actions hurt their friendship. Feelings were eventually hurt and both children went from being best friends to not talking at all.

This proved to be a problem, however, since their parents were such good friends.

After was seemed like an eternity to Tai, the car pulled to a stop next to his parents' sedan. The cars were parked in a neat line bordering the sandy beach. Thanking the heavens, Tai Kamiya followed Mimi out of the back seat and stretched his legs happily. He grumbled a few complaints when his dad ordered him to take the bags out and organize the chairs, but eventually the two families were settled upon the warm sand. Mimi had sat next to him on the beach mat, and he could hear her complain as she took her tank top off, "This beach is so ugly, I can't believe we came here…"

"Oh yeah? Why don't you go back to your Bahamas beach then," countered Tai sourly, shielding his eyes from the overbearing sunlight and barely bothering to look at her.

"I would if I could, jerk." She then stripped and followed Kari into the water. Tai noticed how she was wearing a petite two piece bikini and huffed; the swimsuit was probably just part of her scheme of rushing to becoming an adult.

Tai eventually tired of sitting under the sun and joined the two girls in the water. Kari was busy running after Fifi by the shore, so Tai swam deeper into the water, stopping close to Mimi. "So how's your summer been?" The brunette girl finally bothered to ask him.

"Exciting without you—up until now, of course," Tai replied indifferently.

Mimi laughed slightly; maybe she was expecting a reply like this? "Tai can you get over yourself already? It's really annoying having to argue with you so much all the time," the girl muttered matter-of-factly. The sky seemed to have darkened as a cloud covered the brilliant sun, and Tai and Mimi allowed the tide to drift them closer to the shore, where the waves were stronger.

Tai seemed offended at her words and said, "I don't need to get over anything. Besides I'm not asking you to try to start a conversation with me."

"Well you were the one that approached me in the first place, sheesh! We can't be mad at each other forever, can we?" The younger girl looked away and sadly gazed at her feet under the clear water.

_Oh yes we can_, Tai thought. He remained upset at her as he remembered the way she had hurt him by telling him that he would just become part of her long list of future ex-boyfriends. He just didn't like the way she was becoming, spoiled and popular, treating friendships as if they were disposable. "You're just not fun anymore," Tai admitted indignantly after a while.

Her patience seemed to have run low; Tai saw her jaw drop at his reply and she turned on her heel, intent on leaving him alone in the water. A strong wave followed them, and Tai remained rooted to his spot throughout the impact. He saw how the wave crashed onto her lithe form, making Mimi slip and fall into the water.

The brown haired girl emerged from the salty water with a gasp, she held the top part of her bikini against her chest with her hands and it took Tai a while to notice her predicament. Mimi turned to him again, her face blushing furiously as she grabbed the strings of her bikini that were supposed to be tied around her back. "Help—" Mimi breathed in embarrassment, turning her back to him, so that he could assist her. Tai felt the blood rushing to his face as he took a shaky hold of the strings of her bikini. He hastily—yet clumsily—fumbled with the strings of her top but was able to tie it in place.

Once Mimi noticed he was done fixing her swimsuit, she lowered herself in the water in embarrassment, looking around to see if anybody had noticed. The beach was crowded, but thankfully everybody had been minding their own business to see the girl's clumsy scramble. Still blushing, she worded "Thanks" to Tai and slowly left the water, to bask under the brilliant, sunny sky.

The boy also felt rather embarrassed for having been caught in such a position, but eventually laughed to himself, pointing out how Mimi totally deserved that, for daring to wear such a tiny bikini. He stayed in the water for a while longer, but upon realizing that his party was now busily eating the watermelons they had brought, he rushed out of the water. Tai sat on his usual spot, next to Mimi, on the beach mat, and told his mom, "Mom, pass me a piece of watermelon."

"We ate it all!" Kari exclaimed with mirth, and Tai had to glare at her, for she was feeding Fifi a big piece of the juicy watermelon. So now the dog had dibs to the food and he didn't?

His mom laughed at him and told him, "Yeah honey, didn't you hear me call you guys over? You came a little too late unfortunately." His mom tried to fake a sad smile but laughed, a little affected by the beers she had been drinking.

Tai sighed, leaning back on the mat in misery. Beside him, he saw Mimi motion her slice of uneaten watermelon to him. "Here, have mine," She handed him the piece of fruit.

Tai raised his eyebrows, slightly flabbergasted, and received the watermelon; to him it seemed as if it had been ages since Mimi willingly shared anything with him. "But… what about you?" He finally said after accepting her gift.

"I don't want it, it's gonna make me fat," Mimi replied, looking away in an attempt to prevent him from seeing her small blush. But he knew better; she was simply giving him her piece in gratitude for saving her integrity back in the water. The brown haired boy took a big bite of the juicy fruit and smirked to himself, not taking his eyes away from her, hoping it would bother her.

**~~~ooooo~~~**

He lounged under the sun with his family, watching Kari and Mimi play with a beach ball and Fifi. He must have gulped down at least two water bottles, for he noticed a familiar pressure down in his bladder, which he tried to ignore. Mimi ran towards him, snatching one of the water bottles next to him and swallowing down half of it. Seeing Mimi drink all that water made him want to use the restroom even more, until he couldn't take it anymore and hastily told his mom, "Mom! I need to go pee!"

Mimi seemed sickened by his confession.

"Huhuhu! Well go in the water!" His mom was having too much fun with his dad and friends to really care. Could his day get any worse?

"_Ew_! Don't!" Mimi exclaimed, glaring at Mrs. Kamiya along with him, though she never noticed.

However, and much to his relief, Mimi's mom jumped in, saving him, "There's a supermarket nearby, maybe if you walked there you could use the restroom."

"Ok…" Tai stood up, grabbing his t-shirt and throwing it on.

"Mimi, walk him there," Mrs. Tachikawa quickly added.

"What? No way!" Mimi stopped midway as she was about to continue playing with Kari and Fifi.

"Yes way. Now." The older woman commanded and promptly the two moms went back to gossiping amongst each other, completely oblivious of Mimi's and Tai's animosity.

Mimi glared at Tai's back as she caught up. "Why do I have to walk you? Aren't you old enough to go potty by yourself?" The brunette mocked him and began walking next to him.

"You're saying it like I totally want you to come," Tai huffed impatiently. Right now he wasn't in the mood to argue, he just wanted to get to the nearest bathroom as soon as possible. The two pre-teens walked side by side, in silence, Mimi glancing at the sea-side shops with mild curiosity and Tai trying to ignore all the passersby that were drinking any sort of liquid.

Fortunately for Tai, they spotted the supermarket Mrs. Tachikawa was talking about a few yards ahead of them. Tai quickened his pace but was forced to stop himself as Mimi suddenly came to a halt. He saw her eyeing an ice cream parlor with special interest before she giggled, "Let's get some ice cream, Tai!"

Tai took hold of her wrist and edged her forward, "Mimi—you're forgetting _I_ have to use the restroom!"

"Oh yeah—yeah, sorry. Can we stop by when we walk back?" Mimi quickened her pace as well, completely forgetting that Tai was still holding her wrist.

"Sure."

The kids finally reached the supermarket, much to Tai's immense relief, and said boy hastily left her side to look for the restrooms. Mimi patiently waited for him outside the boy's restroom, feeling slightly happy that things seemed to be slowly returning to normal between them. Her interest shifted to the pretty greeting cards poised on a shelf across from her, and without realizing she slowly walked away from the restrooms, losing herself amongst the many shelves.

Tai walked out with a relieved smile on his boyish features, looked around, and scowled once he saw that Mimi was nowhere to be found. He paced the supermarket looking for her, and let out an exasperated sigh once he spotted her. "_Ahem_, can we get a move on?" The boy asked impatiently.

Mimi tutted, "Must you be so grumpy all the frigging time?"

"Whatever." Tai led the way out of the store and continued saying, "Didn't you want ice cream?"

Her face lit up as she realized that he had remembered. They left the supermarket in high spirits, and a small smile settled on Tai's handsome face when he saw Mimi almost skip her way to the ice cream parlor by his side. Mimi's eyes seemed to have doubled in size when they entered. She hungrily gazed at the many flavors, but her face fell and she turned to look at him with a pout. "Tai, I haven't got any money," Mimi breathed in disbelief. All she was wearing was her small, sunflower yellow beach dress, which had no pockets to hold her money.

Tai dug around the many pockets of his swimming shorts and collectively gathered a couple coins. The two kids looked at the coins in his hands with mild disappointment. "There's only enough for one ice cream," Mimi said slowly.

Tai gently took her hand, deposited his coins onto her palm, and said, "You can have them."

"But… what about you?" Mimi couldn't help but blush slightly at his charity.

The boy shrugged, "You were the one that wanted ice cream, remember?"

She smiled widely, and contemplated on giving him a hearty hug, but decided against it. The girl turned to the shop clerk and ordered a pineapple sherbet cone. They left the shop and now that Mimi was happy with her ice cream she began blabbering to him about things he really couldn't care about, but he listened patiently.

Just as they neared the beach, they reached a huddle of busy passersby, and they had to stand and wait for the crowd to clear before they could walk through. Despite their attempts to evade the crowd, however, someone bumped into Mimi, making her crash against Tai and smear her unfinished ice cream all over his t-shirt. "I'm sorry, Tai!" Mimi said once she realized what she had done, and began to wipe the ice cream off with her hands, smearing his shirt even more.

"Mimi, you're making it worse!" He moved her hands and pushed them against her dress, smearing her with the creamy substance as well.

"Stupid! Look at what you did!" Mimi lifted her hands and glared at him. She huffed, stuffed the waffle cone into her mouth, and quickly walked away from him.

Tai followed after her, intent on picking a fight, and yelled after her, "At what I did? Who was the one that spilled the ice cream in the first place? _Klutz_."

**~~~ooooo~~~**

Night had finally fallen. With the absence of the sun, the beach had become too chilly for the children to actually enjoy swimming, so Tai had busied himself with playing cards with his dad and Mimi. Kari, who now considered herself to also be an owner to Fifi, had taken the dog for a long walk, and Tai's mom seemed preoccupied as Kari was away for so long. "It's becoming so dark now…" Mrs. Kamiya commented worriedly to her best friend.

"And it's almost eight," added in Mrs. Tachikawa.

Because of the fireworks that were scheduled for tonight, a lot more people had traveled down to the beach, so everywhere they looked people had settled on the sand, waiting for the evening light show.

"She's alright," yawned Tai. "She's probably showing Fifi off to strangers."

This seemed to worry his mom even more. "That's exactly what I mean! Kari doesn't want to understand that she's not allowed to talk to strangers!" His mom said in aggravation.

"Mom, she's ten."

"I don't care. Tai, Mimi, go look for Kari please." Tai's mom's words were final and the boy and the girl stood from their comfortable positions on the beach chairs to look for Tai's younger sister.

Mimi had taken to ignoring Tai for the remainder of the afternoon, after their ice cream stumble. Tai simply made himself even angrier at her by pointing out how she was being ungrateful; he bought her the ice cream with his own money! He even let her have it all for herself, yet she had the nerve to ignore him all afternoon. They dodged people's chairs as they walked through the crowded beach, but every once in a while had to help each other out when they tripped because of the darkness of the night. Much to his surprise, however, Mimi eventually turned to look at him as they walked, and asked, "Tai, why do you hate me so?"

Tai was taken aback by her question. He stopped and looked at her back, and with darkened eyes replied as she turned to face him, "I don't hate you, Mimi."

She raised an eyebrow at his reply. Ok, so he was a little reproachful at the fact that he had once liked her, yet she carelessly flicked his feelings away, rambling on about her new life at school. "You… changed. You became like those girls at school that I really don't like."

Mimi tilted her head sideways as she listened to his words.

"Suddenly all you cared about was how a person was on the outside, instead of how a person is on the inside." He felt a blush creeping to his face and he thanked the heavens that it was so dark he was sure she couldn't see it.

Mimi walked closer to him, taking his hand in a shy manner, and replied, "But I wasn't like that to you."

"Well it bothered me that you were like that to other people, Mimi." He pulled his hand away and continued walking and finally decided to lay all cards down on the table, "You _do _know I used to like you, right?"

The expression on her face was priceless as she was taken by surprise by his words. Mimi wasn't sure how to reply; she always had an inkling of his feelings, which she whole heartedly used to reciprocate, but she was never really sure. Instead, she asked what mattered to her at this present moment, "Do you _still_ like me?"

Tai's heart had begun to race. Should he lie? Should he offer her a smart-ass reply and break her heart just as she had once broken his? Mimi had been too focused on him, waiting for his reply, however, that she didn't notice the boulder that was sticking out from the sand, and just as he was about to reply, he heard her yelp in pain. Tai turned to look back and saw she had fallen onto the sand, and was now whimpering in pain. He crouched next to her to comfort her and saw how she was holding a bloody foot. "Mimi—Mimi, are you alright?" Tai held her foot as well, trying to wipe some of the blood off.

"Ouch—yeah, I tripped on that stupid boulder—" Mimi had begun to say but was interrupted by a loud, exploding noise coming from a nearby rock jetty. Then immediately after, bright lights began to adorn the star-struck sky. Mimi, who had tears in her eyes, looked up, Tai quickly following her gaze and saw the fireworks in sheer amazement.

Sparks of white, yellow, blue, green, and red took over the summer sky; they formed circular patterns, then fell forward and disappeared into the darkness, followed by a new wave of explosive sounds and fireworks. Mimi and Tai let out relieved laughs, and Mimi seemed to have forgotten all about her injured foot. They sat on the sand next to each other, with Tai's arm around her smaller back, gazing up at the beautiful bright lights. They remained motionless for a while, mesmerized by the lights, until Tai drew up the courage and whispered into her ear, "Yes, I still like you."

The sky was lit for a split second and Tai was able to catch the crimson blush that had settled on the girl's cheeks. She turned her head sharply towards him, smiled sincerely, and then turned her attention again towards the heavens above them. "I really like you too, Tai. I've always had," she confessed her feelings then rested her head on the valley of his neck.

After a few moments of pure bliss Mimi felt Tai moving next to her, so she turned to face him. Chocolate brown met amber, until their faces began to inch forward. Tai's eyelids suddenly felt heavy, so he relaxed, allowing his eyes to close, and finally the boy felt her salty lips upon his. The brown haired boy held her tightly, feeling his heart flutter in sheer joy. They parted from their inexperienced kiss and shared silly smiles before turning their attentions back to the fireworks spectacle.

Suddenly something small jumped onto Tai's back, and the two kids heard Kari's giggles nearby. "The fireworks started guys!" Kari sat crouched next to Tai, her eyes fixed on the sky.

"There you are, Kari! We've been looking all over for you," Tai said rather annoyed that Kari had spoiled their privacy.

Mimi stood up bravely, trying her best to ignore her foot, and said, "Let's head back before your mom has a fit." She extended her hand out to Tai, helping him to his feet before the trio and the dog walked back to their parents. Tai maintained his gaze on the sky and as he thoughted back he decided that he did care for the fireworks after all. Without looking away, Tai took Mimi's hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze, drawing her body closer to him. Sure, the first half of his day had been annoying to say the least, but it all balanced out, because he would never take back the private moment he had shared with Mimi. He was her best friend and, for now, the self-proclaimed owner of her pretty, rosy lips.

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